Ukraine's angry volunteer brigades at the war front

A destroyed apartment block in the town of Pisky, once a relatively wealthy suburb of Donetsk, that has been devastated by the war. Apart from soldiers, who use destroyed buildings as shelter from periodical shelling, the town's only residents now are Anatoly and Svetlana, who both turned 70 this year. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

On the frontline in Ukraine, a group of volunteer fighters composing a unit of the nationalist battalion of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, operates side by side with official Ukrainian troops.

Although they do not operate heavy weaponry such as tanks or artillery, they are supported by the Ukrainian troops who do. The volunteers have become hardened nationalists, with their time spent in intense combat at the front. Many disapprove of the way their government has handled this war, which they still refuse to acknowledge as such, instead referring to it as the anti-terrorist operation.

They view their government's willingness to accept onerous ceasefire terms as nothing short of treason, asking if this justifies the sacrificed lives of their comrades. They believed the Maidan revolution of 2014 would bring about a new Ukraine, and when separatists started the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, they went to fight for what they thought they had won at Maidan - a more just Ukraine. But looking around, they say they see the same old Ukraine, with many of the same players, simply reorganised.

A destroyed Ukrainian tank on the road to the government-held town of Pisky. The writing on the tank reads: 'They gave their lives for Ukraine.' [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

Two soldiers from the Ukrainian Volunteer Army relax around the kitchen table during a late night lull in fighting. Tuna, on the left, is from Mykolaiv, a city in southern Ukraine, and has been in the war zone for nearly five months. He transferred to Marinka, just outside of Donetsk, after leaving the battle-torn village of Shyrokyne, just east of the city port of Mariupol on the Azov Sea. He serves as the unit's chef, making do with canned goods delivered by civilian volunteers. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

'Little One', centre, is the unit's youngest member, and a contract servicemen in Ukraine's Armed Forces. He is in this flat because his commander decided to house him with the volunteer fighters. Just days after the picture was taken, Little One was wounded in battle, the bullet miraculously missing every major organ. Nonetheless, he will spend the next two months in hospital. Little One was only a week away from being demobilised. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

The unit's only Jewish member, Avram, pauses for a cigarette during a heavy night of fighting. At this point, the soldiers had been in a firefight for over an hour, and as the unit's most experienced fighter, all of it gained during this war, Avram had been intensely directing the unit's younger members. He says that before leaving for war, he met with his Rabbi to seek his blessing which his Rabbi readily gave. When he first arrived in Eastern Ukraine as a volunteer, he was in a unit of 12 members, with only 4 sniper rifles to share between them. 'Some of us only had knives, some found grenades, and we just fought however we could.' [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

Eastern Ukraine's new ceasefire, the latest in a string of failed ceasefires, has tempered fighting for the time being but that is unlikely to last. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

Little One inspects the tube of his rocket grenade launcher during a daytime lull in fighting as Avram stands to his left. Rocket propelled grenades, automatic grenade launchers and 82mm mortars the most common weapons used in this war. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

A soldier who goes by the nom de guerre 'Nestor' stands in the kitchen, the only common room available for this unit of nationalist volunteers. As a native of Russia, Nestor's decision to fight on this side of the line maybe odd, but not unheard of. Discussing the impact that Russian media have had on the perception of Ukrainian soldiers as nazi's and fascists, Nestor's smiles and jokingly says 'as a representative of the Russian Federation, I can confirm that everything you hear in the Russian propaganda is correct'. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

'Chikatilo' is a volunteer who has been given a nickname after Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo, a Soviet-era serial killer, known as the Butcher of Rostov. The volunteer earned his nickname because he rarely speaks, but when he does, he has a deep, cold stare. Chikatilo was a taxi driver who joined the war because he wanted to fight. Although he respects the other members of the unit, he says the only one he fully trusts is Shorok, his friend since childhood [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

A Macedonian volunteer smokes as Tuna, and another member of the unit, nicknamed 'Leshiy', which means goblin, discuss the war zone. Leshiy was given his nickname when a sniper in the armed forces of Ukraine and wore a ghillie suit. Leshiy has been at the front for nearly two years. 'No one likes you when you're a sniper,' he says. 'Not even the men you fight with. We scare everyone.' [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

The sun sets over Marinka, a small town on the outskirts of Donetsk, which saw its population of 10,000 cut in half by the war in Donbass. These shattered apartment blocks are the frontline position for Ukrainian troops against Russian-backed separatists only 400 metres away. Despite repeated attempts at a ceasefire, the fighting here is endless. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

Avram cleans his weapon. After years already at war, he is meticulous with his weapons, and his own hygiene. Although the building has been shelled repeatedly, Avram has found a way to keep a functioning bathroom in his bedroom, the walls of which are reinforced and sandbagged because they face out on to separatist positions only 400 metres away. [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

With few resources, these volunteers need to be creative to solve minor medical problems. Here, Leshiy attends to a crippling toothache using a holistic concoction, including the chemical residue of burned newspaper. When the war began, Leshiy immediately tried to join the military, but was rejected. While many Ukrainians used their wealth to avoid service, Leshiy says he did the opposite. 'I eventually paid my way into the army. I'm not a fanatic patriot, but I'm also not a traitor. I wasn't going to watch my country fall without joining the fight.' [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

Prince lays out on his bed during a lull in the fighting. This former Ukrainian national wrestling champion, is now a machine gunner. When the Maidan revolution happened, he travelled to Kiev with his wife to protest, then went back home to western Ukraine. When he wanted to return, she wouldn't let him, so he divorced her. 'I'm a patriot,' he says. 'I fought for my country as an athlete and now I fight as a soldier, plus I never liked Russians.' [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]

The soldiers in this battalion are devout nationalists, they fight alongside a unit of Jewish volunteer soldiers, who also declare themselves to be Ukrainian nationalists [Anton Skyba/Al Jazeera]